Meaning of 餐
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- meal
- to eat
- classifier for meals
How to use 餐
餐 is mostly a formal or written word for a meal. It appears in compounds like 早餐 (zǎocān), 午餐 (wǔcān) and 晚餐 (wǎncān), and it can count meals as a classifier. Example: 我们一起吃了一顿大餐。(Wǒmen yìqǐ chī le yí dùn dà cān.) We had a big feast together.
The bottom of 餐 (cān) is 食 (shí), food, so the character is about eating. Picture the top part as a hand reaching over a plate, grabbing a bite of the meal below.
Common mistake: Learners often write 食 at the bottom in its squeezed side form 饣, as in 饭, but in 餐 the full 食 sits underneath the top part. Also keep the first tone: cān, not càn as in 灿 (càn).
餐 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
餐 cān · meal · 16 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 餐.
| 晚餐 | wǎncān | evening meal; dinner |
| 早餐 | zǎocān | breakfast |
| 午餐 | wǔcān | lunch; luncheon |
| 快餐 | kuàicān | fast food; snack |
| 中餐 | zhōngcān | lunch; Chinese meal; Chinese food |
| 西餐 | xīcān | Western-style food |
| 套餐 | tàocān | set meal; (fig.) product or service package (e.g. for a cell phone subscription) |
| 餐厅 | cāntīng | dining hall; dining room |
| 餐馆 | cānguǎn | restaurant |
| 餐饮 | cānyǐn | food and beverage; catering |
| 野餐 | yěcān | picnic; to have a picnic |
| 用餐 | yòngcān | to eat a meal |
Questions about 餐
What does 餐 mean?
餐 (cān) means "meal; to eat" and is used as a measure word.
How do you write 餐?
餐 is made of 1 character: 餐 (16 strokes). That is 16 strokes in total.
Is 餐 an HSK word?
Yes. 餐 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 餐 and 饭?
饭 (fàn) is the everyday spoken word, as in 吃饭 (chī fàn), to eat or have a meal. 餐 sounds more formal and shows up in set words like 早餐 or on menus and signs. In casual talk, 早饭 (zǎofàn) and 早餐 both mean breakfast, but 早餐 feels more polished.
How do I say restaurant or cafeteria with 餐?
A restaurant is 餐厅 (cāntīng) or 餐馆 (cānguǎn), and a dining car on a train is 餐车 (cānchē). Tableware is 餐具 (cānjù). These compounds are very common on signs.